Box



Patented Dec. 27, 1938 UNITED STAT BOX Application February 17, 1937, Serial No. 126,130

2 Claims.

This invention relates to boxes or crates generally referred to in the trade as Dozier style and made in substantial accordance with the disclosure of United States Letters Patent 609,879 issued August 30, 1898, to Dozier. The Dozier style box is extremely light in weight, it being made of various kinds of lightweight wood. such as cottonwood, and comprising single thickness veneer top, bottom and walls secured together by cleats. The Dozier style box has met with great acceptance in the box-making and boxusing industries because of its comparative strength and lightness. For instance, it is extensively used in the shipment of dressed poultry because the freight rates for poultry are relatively high and the box is charged at the same rate as the poultry contentsv Therefore, poultry shippers have found it desirable and economical to use a Dozier style box for their shipments.

1 There are many other products which are shipped in the Dozier style box for the same and other reasons.

The Dozier style boxes as made heretofore have generally been constructed as already mentioned of single thickness veneer for the top,

bottom and walls of the box, and cleats have been arranged along the edges of the walls with the cleats on the side walls overlapping the ends of the cleats on the end walls. Nails are driven through the overlapping ends of the side wall cleats. The nails are driven across the grain of the side wall cleats and into and parallel with the grain of the end wall cleats. The nails must be of suflicient size to securely hold the cleats together and generally it has been found necessary to use at least two nails in each end of each. side wall cleat to satisfactorily secure it to its adjacent end wall cleat. The cleats, while much thicker than the veneer side walls, are nevertheless made as small as possible consistent with the desired strength. It has been found that driving the nails across the grain at the ends of the side wall cleats frequently splits the cleat along the grain to at least some extent, and to a very large extent the splits have been so great as to require the use of a third or auxiliary nail which has a still greater tendency to split the cleat because of there being two nails already present in adjacent relation thereto. Furthermore, it frequently happens that the split been so great as to break off a piece of the cleat, rendering i't'useless and requiring replacement of the entire side of the box as the facilities for replacing only the cleat are generally not present in the field where the boxes are assembled. Such breakage occurs frequently especially where the cleat has been made from a long strip of wood having a knot therein adjacent or close to the line of severance of the cleat from the long piece of wood because the grain near the knot will not be straight but will be curved to go around the knot. The assembler of the box is "generally working at a high rate of speed and cannot take the time to discern how the grain runs at the point where he is driving the nail, especially because the wood used generally has a faint grain and close scrutiny is required to see it.

Because the nails are driven into the ends of the end wall cleats they are not secured therein as tightly as if it were possible to drive them across the grain and attempts have been made to coat the nails with a cement-like nail coating which will soften because of the heat developed in driving the nail and then set immediately to cause the nail to better hold in the end wall cleat. Use of coated nails has to some extent made a more tightly secured together box. However, the effect of the coating is largely lost due to its being scraped off of the nail when driving the nail across the grain of the side wall cleats and therefore little coating ever finds its way into the end wall cleats.

The nails securing the end wall and side wall cleats together have heretofore been positioned by hand and necessarily somewhat carelessly due to the speed with which the assemblers assemble the box and as a result the nails have frequently been located too close to the edge or end of the cleats, resulting in splitting thereof, or the nails have been located too close together and are therefore not as effective as they could be, and the nails have not been properly staggered to prevent alinement with the grain and consequent splitting of the end wall cleats. If the nails are riven into the end wall cleats in alinement with each other and with the grain of the end wall cleat, the two nails have the effect of wedging the grain apart frequently causing the end wall cleat to split. If more time were permitted the assemblers in driving the nails they could more accurately stagger them but in high speed assembling this has been impossible. If great care is not taken to drive the nails straight into the cleats, it frequently happens that the nails skew and protrude from the side of the end Wall cleats and become a source of danger to a handler of the box.

The principal object of my invention is to more securely hold together the parts of a Dozier style box than has been done heretofore.

Another object of my invention is to construct the parts of a Dozier style box so that the parts may be assembled without damage thereto regardless of the direction or condition of the grain in the wood of the parts.

A further object of the invention is to provide a guide for the nails holding the parts of a Dozier style box together so that the nails will be driven straight and without skewing.

A still further object is to insure that when coated nails are used the coating will stay on the pointed end of the nails until the nails have been driven home.

Other objects of the invention are to locate.

the position at which thernails securing the parts of a Dozier style box together are to be driven so that the nails will not be too close to the edge of the parts or to each other; to prelocate the place where the nails are to be driven so that they will be properly staggered and cut of aline-- ment and therefore decrease the possibility of splitting the box parts; and to provide a Dozier style box having an improved appearance due to the lack of splits, broken parts, protruding nails, etc.

Selected embodiments of my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one corner of a box embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; 7 V V Fig. 3 is a detail view of one Wall showing the cleats thereon in sectio-n;' and Fig.4 is a detail enlargedrsectional view il:

'lustrating the manner in which a nail holds two cleats 6; Holes H are drilled through the eX-' tending end portions of the cleats 6 to receive nails H which are adapted to secure the cleats 6 and 9 together. The holes is are slightly staggered so that they will not be in alinement with the grain of the cleats 9. The nails ii may have a thin coating of a cement-like material and are of the type generally found in the commercial market having a coating which is adapted to melt slightly with the heat of friction developed during the driving of the nail. The holes l0 may be of a diameter approximately equal to the diameter of the outside surface of the coating on the nails or may be of slightly 7 larger diameter as is illustrated for the purpose of clarity or may be even of slightly less diameter, provided too much resistance will not result to the nail toscrapeoif the coating thereon.

The top l2 and bottom iii of the box are constructed of a thin single thickness veneer having reenforce' strips l t'stapled by staples l at strategic locations thereon. The reenforces are preferably located along the ends of the grain of the top and bottom and at other locations where found desirable to give added strength and to prevent warping. The top of the box map beremovably secured to the walls by any suitable means such as the wire hinge and lock I5. The bottom of the box is secured to the side and end walls thereof by nails 15 extending through openings in the reenforce strips M and bottom l3 similar to the holes E0 in the side wall cleats. These nails may also be coated similar to the nails H.

My invention provides that during the inanufacture of the parts to be assembled to make a Dozier style box, the holes iii may be drilled by machinery having predetermined drill locations so that the holes drilled thereby will be straight, of the proper size, properly located, and

properly staggered, whereby the box may be assembled without splitting of the parts due to driving the nails therethrough, without skewing the nails, and without scraping the coating ofi of'the nails and, therefore, the box will be better appearing and more securely fastened to.- gether without damage to any of the parts.

While I have illustrated and described selected embodiments of my invention it is to be understood that these are capable of variation and modificaticnand I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the scope of the following claims:

I claim: r

1. A Dozier style box including preformed top, bottom, side and end wall units for assembly at the point of use, the preformed side and end wall units being in sets and including cleats fixed horizontally of the units, the cleats on one set of said walls extending beyond the ends there of whereby the cleats on said one set of said walls when assembled overlap the ends of the cleats on the other set of said walls, said over lapping cleats having staggered nail guide openings therethrough in the extended ends thereof, and cement coated, headed nails extending through said openings with the coated ends thereof embedded in the ends of said overlapped cleats and the heads thereof substantialiy flush with the outer surfaceof said overlapping cleats at the openings therethrough, said openings being of a diameter approximately equal to the diam-v eter of the outer surface of said coating and of less diameter than the. diameter of the heads of the nails whereby when said coated nails are inserted'into said openings and driven into the overlapped cleats they will be effectively guided straight into staggered points of the overlapped cleats and the'coating on the ends of the nails Will enter the overlapped cleats cementing the ends of the nails therein and without the coating being scraped off the ends of the nails by the overlapping cleats.

2. A Dozier style box including preformed top, bottom, side and end wall units for assembly at the point of use, the preformed side and end wall units being in sets and including cleats fixed horizontally of the units, the cleats on one set of said wall units extending beyond the ends thereof whereby the cleats on said one set of "said wall units when assembled, overlap the ends of the'cleats on the other set of said wall therethrough in the said extended ends thereof,

,and cement coated, headed nails extending through said openings with the coated ends thereof embedded in therends of said overlapped cleats and the heads thereof substantially flush with the outer surface of said overlapping cleats at the openings therethrough, said openings being of a diameter" approximately equal to the diameter of the outer surface of said coating and of less diameter, than the diameter of the heads of the nails whereby when said coated nails are inserted into said openings and driven in guided relation therethrough into the overlapped cleats the coating on the ends of thenails will enter the overlapped cleats for cementing the ends of the nails therein and without the coating being scraped off the ends of the nails by the overlapping cleats.

ALWIN W. D. WEIS. 

